*Click* Hello

Generally frowned upon in polite company.

"That's a nine millimeter semi-automatic pushed against your skull. Don't look around. You just keep driving where you're going."

— Michael de Santa to Franklin Clinton, Grand Theft Auto V

A character from one side is pointing a pistol at another. They exchange the usual insults and witticisms. We then hear an audible click from off screen. The camera moves to the side showing that someone from the same side as the pointee has just shown up and is pointing a gun at the pointer.

Often leads to a Mexican Standoff, especially when large groups of people are involved. May be followed by Pre-Mortem One-Liner from the gunman. Depending on his/her confidence, the target may then utter a literal "Facing the Bullets" One-Liner, or simply skip straight to Oh, Crap!

Occasionally subverted when a fourth party arrives to point at the pointer who is pointing at the first pointer.

The other version of this trope tends to involve goodies, but can involve baddies. The hero is making their escape from the baddies. They run down a corridor and find a door. They open it and run smack bang into a whole platoon of soldiers — who all proceed to ready their automatic weapons simultaneously.

Subtrope of Kinetic Clicking. See also Audible Sharpness, Dramatic Gun Cock and Land Mine Goes "Click!". See *Twang* Hello for the archery/throwing weapon equivalent. Also, give *Drool* Hello a look-see for the I-wanna-bath-and-therapy version: natural weapons usually included. Sometimes used by the Pushy Gun-Toting Villain as a way to show that they are serious and not fooling around.

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Examples:

Advertising

• There was an entire Xbox 360 commercial built around this trope, with people in a crowded city (and finger-pistols instead of actual firearms); while the commercial never aired on television, it can be viewed on the Internet.

Anime & Manga

• The Mad Hatter, not being too fond of the Cheshire Cat, does this to him whenever they meet in Are You Alice?. Justified in that 1) The Cheshire Cat appears suddenly next to the guy the Hatter protects, 2) The Mad Hatter himself particularly hates cats, and 3) The Cheshire Cat can't really be trusted. Lampshaded by the cat at several points, even acknowledging that it's common.
• Baccano! executes a textbook version of this in the anime adaptation, when Luck Gandor finds Dallas attempting to kill his best friend, Firo.
• Black Lagoon: After Fabiola wrecks Bao's bar, Gustavo of the Manisarera Cartel points his gun at Fabiola...only for Revy to point her gun at him just a second later.
• In one episode of Case Closed, Gin does this to Vodka.
• Often played straight in City Hunter, if nothing else because not cocking the revolver at short range can result in the opponent blocking the cylinder and prevent them from shooting (done twice by amateurs dealing with Ryo and Kaori). Professionals will also cock the gun before taking a shot from distance, but that's not something you want to do with Ryo, as he has a very sharp hearing and will react by drawing his gun and shooting you faster than you can aim your gun.
• In the Cowboy Bebop episode "Gateway Shuffle", Spike does this to "Twinkle" Maria Murdock, the female leader of the Space Warriors terrorist group.
• In the second episode of Dominion Tank Police, the police Chief attempts to arrest Buaku when Anipuna and the Gang click hello him. The gang are then click hello'ed by the Red Commandos who are, of course, click hello'ed by Britain and the rest of the tank police, setting up a brief Mexican Standoff.
• Sōsuke from Full Metal Panic! has a habit of doing this to people. Especially people whom he randomly deems as being "suspicious".
• In one episode of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, a kidnapper gets the drop on the Major, putting a gun to her head. However, as fits this trope, Batou shows up behind her...
• Jan Valentine from Hellsing was charging the room where Integra and her committee were holed up with intentions of killing every last one of them; this trope comes into play when he opens the door to find everyone in the room drawing their guns and aiming at him.
  Jan: ... Oh, fuck me.
• In an Hetalia: Axis Powers anime episode, Germany does this to France, representing France's WWII defeat. In the manga, this is not shown and France's defeat is represented by him lying on the ground being poked by Italy.
• Phantom Task operative Autumn greets Tabane in the second season of Infinite Stratos. But this is Tabane we're talking about here.
• Seems to be a standard greeting among the Dorrsian team of bishonen super-soldiers in Valvrave the Liberator.
• Twilight in Spy X Family did this in Mission 1, when he threatened someone that had broken into his home and kidnapped his adopted daughter. Mission 62 shows that a childaged Twilight did the same thing during a game with his friends, albeit with a toy gun.

Comic Books

• Mickey Mouse Comic Universe: In "The Seven Ghosts", Mickey has a gun pointed at the smugglers dressed up as ghosts. They are saved by the other smugglers suddenly showing up. Then Mickey and the others are saved by the police showing up after Mickey contacted them earlier. In "The Lair of Wolf Barker", Wolf Barker fakes a *Click* Hello rescue to catch Mickey offguard and have a chance to escape.
• The Punisher: The Punisher uses this quite a bit. A particularly extreme example from ''Punisher Max #10:
  Punisher: You feel that Dulohery? That's the barrel of my shotgun up your ass.
• Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics): Jack Rabbit, leader of the Sand Blasters, does this to Vector the Crocodile in Sonic Universe issue 48:
  Vector: [attempting to clobber Tex] HRRF! Not bad, but I've thrown down with the best!
  Jack: [pointing a gun behind Vector] Yeah, you ain't half bad. Ain't half good, either. Now how about you give up before I give in to my itchy trigger finger.
• Superman: In one scene of the storyline Starfire's Revenge, Supergirl is shoving Starfire's thugs away while chasing after their boss when one of them sneaks behind Supergirl, and aware that she has been depowered, points a gun at her head to halt her.
• Wolverine manages to pull this on Deathstroke in the X-Men/Teen Titans crossover.

Fan Works

• Aran's Daughter: Ayame first meets Samus when she shoots at her with a handgun out of fear.
• Mello does this to Soichiro Yagami in As The World Falls Down
• Cody attempts this on XANA's physical form in Code: Total Drama Reality. It doesn't work, but he gets points for trying.
• In A Crown of Stars, Jinnai is threatening Shinji when he notices Asuka pointing a gun at him.
  Jinnai stopped talking very quickly. Most people do when someone puts the business end of an M1911 .45 caliber pistol to the back of their head. The sharp, clear click of the hammer being cocked just served to underline the implicit threat in the cool kiss of the barrel's metal against the back of his head.
• Empathy: Captain Smek, the other half of Yokai's Villain Team-Up, first reveals himself by entering the room and leveling a shotgun at Big Hero 6 while they're interrogating Krei.
• In The Road Not Taken, a Klingon with a bat'leth is threatening a Ferengi bartender.
  Klingon: I’m going to bleed you like a stuck targ!
  Hadron: Nononononono don’t hurt meee!
  Eleya: [comes up behind the Klingon and sticks her phaser pistol in the back of his head] Station Security. Drop it or I drop you.
• Spider-Ninja: Fury uses this on Shredder, Hun, and the Purple Dragons after SHIELD tracks them to a warehouse.
  Shredder: They are no threat to us. I do not fear SHIELD.
  Fury: [clicks gun] You should.
• Tales of the Otherverse: In "A World Without Heroes", a thug runs away from Supergirl and Rogue just to run straight into Sherri, who is aiming a shotgun to his face.
• In Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Supergirl crossover The Vampire of Steel, as running from some guards Buffy bursts into a hall and runs into a vampire aiming a gun at her head.
  Buffy sprinted down a total of three floors before she heard someone from above saying, “Hold it, ma’am. Hold it right there. We can help.”
  She looked up and saw a brown-haired guy in a grey suit, light blue shirt, and red tie. He had his coat buttoned and she looked, despite herself, for a shoulder holster. “No, you can’t,” she said, and banged her way through another doorway.
  There was a click of a hammer all too close to her head. “Yes, we can,” said a soft voice.
  Buffy froze and cast her eyes to the left. A gun, sure enough. The old ears weren’t failing her, at least. .357 Magnum, from the looks of it. The guy holding it had black hair, thick and wavy, and was wearing a maroon Brooks Brothers suit. He looked twentyish and was smiling like a wise-ass. No, like a wiseguy.
  There was nobody else in the hall she had come to and the windows were heavily curtained.
  She could smell the vampire on him.

Films — Animated

• In Lupin III: Dead or Alive, Lupin and company manage to kidnap a princess, who's actually a government agent in disguise. Lupin discovers this when he's interrupted mid-sentence by a pistol pressing into the back of his head.
• Missing Link: Adelina Fortnight follows Lionel Frost and Link (who disguised themselves) to the train station after he stole her husband's map. Adelina accuses him of lying to her, but Lionel tries to feign being a nun despite Link explaining that they mugged said nun. Cue Adelina pulling out her revolver, cocking its hammer, and pointing it right at Lionel's head, prompting him to drop the act.

Films — Live-Action

• The Back to the Future films:
  • In Back to the Future Part II, Marty is horrified by how 1985 is completely different, because it's an Alternate Timeline, so he grabs up a newspaper from a nearby house to confirm the year. Unfortunately, he's at Mr. Strickland's house, who, also armed with a double-barreled shotgun, thinks Marty is a thief.
    "So, you're the son of bitch who's been stealing my newspapers!"
  • In Back to the Future Part III, Tannen does this to Doc with a derringer. This is shortly after the Deputy gave Tannen a Click Hello with a double-barreled shotgun.
• Near the end of Battle Royale, Shogo Kawada sneaks behind Kazuo Kiriyama and pumps the shotgun to alert Kiriyama of his presence. Subverted somewhat in that Kiriyama promptly fires at Kawada, giving him injuries which eventually prove fatal.
• Taken to the absurd extreme in The Blues Brothers. After finally getting the money needed to save the orphanage to the Clerk and Recorder's office, Jake and Elwood both reach out to take the receipt. In a flash, their wrists are locked together in handcuffs, upon which they turn... and discover probably EVERY Police officer, SWAT Member, and Army Soldier in the greater Chicago area pointing a weapon at them.
• In Code of Silence, two street thugs attempt to rob a bar where Cusak and his fellow cops hang out, resulting in everyone but the bartender drawing down on the two thugs.
• Happens a few times in The Dark Knight Trilogy.
  • Batman uses this in Batman Begins the first time he speaks to Jim Gordon; however, it's a clever ruse, as the "pistol" is actually a stapler.
  • Played straight in The Dark Knight. Preparing to kill Batman, the Joker steps up to him, and the SWAT driver — Gordon — puts a shotgun to his back:
    The Joker: Could you please just give me a minute?
    Lt. James Gordon: We've got you, you son-of-a-bitch.
  • Happens in The Dark Knight Rises when Selina is confronting John Daggett about the Clean Slate program, and Stryver sneaks up behind her and cocks his gun. Selina responds by stomping on his foot with her heels.
  • Happens again after Bane's bombs go off. Two of Bane's men go to Gordon's hospital to kill him. Gordon hears the alarm, and immediately climbs out of bed, somewhat groggy. As the mercenaries search the hospital, Blake arrives in a commandeered car and enters wielding a shotgun. As Blake is searching a corridor, we suddenly hear a couple of gunshots go off. He steps up to Gordon's room door, bursts in, and finds the two mercenaries lying dead, at which point a pistol is put to his head:
    Commissioner James Gordon: Clear the corners, rookie. [Blake turns around] Get my coat, son.
• In Die Hard, John McClane runs into the Big Bad Hans Gruber. Gruber fakes an American accent to fool McClane into thinking he is a hostage hiding from the terrorists. McClane gives Hans his pistol to help defend himself. Hans promptly pulls a Click Hello on McClane when he turns his back. Of course, McClane neglected to mention that he made sure the gun he handed to Gruber was not loaded.
• In the Affectionate Parody version of Dragnet, Emil Muzz has Streebeck pinned down for a point-blank headshot when Friday sticks a shotgun in his face.
  Friday: [pumps shotgun] Muzz, you don't have the sense God gave the common dog. Don't you realize that's my partner?
• Dylan Dog: Dead of Night: Played with Dramatic Gun Cock and deconstructed. For Dylan's introduction, an angry husband puts a gun in his face and cocks the hammer... While Dylan is asleep. Waking up, Dylan comments that he cocked it too early, stating that the gun itself ought to be scary enough, and to save cocking for later to escalate the tension.
  Dylan: What are you gonna do now? Shake it at me?
  Gunman: [screams and shakes the gun]
  Dylan: [unimpressed] See? Not as effective.
• In Face/Off, there's a series of Click-Hellos with several people all pointing guns at each other in a church. Castor hoots, "Woo wee! What a predicament!"
• Tuco pursues Blondie in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and finally catches up to him. He announces his presence in this manner.
• Kenneth Branagh manages to get one of these in to his version of Hamlet. Hamlet.
• Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters: Gretel gives an epic one to the sheriff in order to let him know that burning an innocent woman at the stake just to impress the townspeople is not going to happen on her watch.
  Gretel: Let the girl go, or I'm gonna blow your sheriff's brains all over these fucking hillbillies.
• In the cult classic Highlander, Juan Ramirez does this to Connor Macleod with a Katana to the back of Macleod's neck.
  Ramirez: Crude and slow clansman, your attack was no better then that of a clumsy child.
• The Immortals: When Dominic and his henchmen have Jack and the others at gunpoint in the kitchen, Kerry sneaks up behind Dominic's group and cocks the hammer on his revolver: getting their attention and suddenly shifting the balance of power, leading to the massive Mexican Standoff.
• James Bond
  • The Living Daylights: Pushkin arrives at his hotel room for a romantic evening, only to find Bond waiting for him behind the door, gun in hand.
  • Used twice in one scene in in GoldenEye, when Bond goes to meet Valentin to negotiate a meeting with Janus. Bond introduces himself by approaching Valentin from behind and cocking a gun to his head with an audible click (doubles as Casual Danger Dialogue, all things considered):
    Valentin: [recognizing the cocking noise] Walther PPK. 7.65mm. Only three men I know use such a gun; I believe I've killed two of them.
    James Bond: Lucky me.
    [one of Valentin's henchmen pulls the same trick on Bond with his own PPK]
    Valentin: I think not.
  • And in Tomorrow Never Dies. Bond enters his hotel room to find the body of his ex-lover Paris Carver (put there in an attempt to frame him for murder). As he approaches her to check for a pulse, we hear a gun cock and the voice of her killer, revealing that the plan is to frame him for a murder-suicide.
  • Bond does it again to Valentin in The World Is Not Enough, ambushing him in his own office.
    Valentin: Can't you just say "Hello," like a normal person?
• Jane Got a Gun: Bishop cocks his pistol behind Dan after he gets the drop on him, announcing himself this way. Then a minute later Jane does the same thing to him.
• In The Last Rites of Ransom Pride, Matthew and The Dwarf are both in the habit of answering their door with guns drawn.
• Done by none other than Samuel L. Jackson in The Long Kiss Goodnight. Of course, the heroine is quick to point out that she didn't need his help and he had probably scared off the other headhunters and ruined her plans. It's also done to him in the same film, with an appropriately cool one-liner.
  There are sufficient reasons not to kill you. The fact that you would be missed by NASA is not among them.
• The Mask has Stanley preparing to go after Tina, saying "This is the moment when a man... shows what he's really made of." Cue an SMG being cocked and pointed to his head, leading to Stanley unwillingly responding to his statement. ("Crap.")
• Done quite well in the movie The Matrix, where it's part of Trinity's "Dodge this" scene.
• Mission: Impossible – Fallout: Hunley pulls this on Walker when he realizes he's just fallen for the IMF specialty and outed himself as John Lark.
  Hunley: I've ruined your day, haven't I?
• At the start of My Name Is Nobody, an outlaw posing as a barber prepares to kill Jack Beauregard when he hears a click...and notices Beauregard has his gun held against his crotch. He dutifully finishes the shave job.
• Night of the Demons: When Colin goes to visit Nigel at the strip club, Nigel's bidyguard claps her automatic to the side of his head and cocks it as he enters.
• In The Outlaw Josey Wales, this is done twice. First, Josey (Clint Eastwood) pulls it on Lone Watie (Chief Dan George); and later, when Watie returns the favor, an Indian girl Josey previously freed pulls her own "click hello" on Watie:
  Lone Watie: I'm gettin' better at sneaking up on you like this. Only an Indian can do something like this.
  Josey Wales: That's what I figured.
  Lone Watie: You figured?
  Wales: Only an Indian could do something like that.
  [Lone Watie hears a gun cock behind him; turns and sees Moonlight]
• Used in an interesting way in Push. Nick walks up to Carver and Victor at a restaurant seemingly unarmed, but then telekinetically lowers two handguns from above them and holds them against their heads.
• Quick Change. Leave it to Bill Murray to snark this Trope, too.
  Mafioso: That ain't my dick in your back.
  Grimm: [beat] Well, that's a relief.
• Red Hill: At the climax of the film, Old Bill is distracted by the riderless horse running past. He then feels a barrel placed against the back of his neck, and hears the click of a revolver being cocked as Jimmy is standing behind him.
• In RoboCop 3, some clueless thug tries to rob a doughnut store. After hearing a dozen clicks, he turns and sees that the entire store is filled with cops. The cashier quips, "What's it like being a rocket scientist?"
• Sartana does this frequently in his films. People rarely pull this on him though.
• In the climax of The Silence of the Lambs, Jame Gumb — behind Clarice Starling, wearing night-vision goggles in the dark — cocks his gun... and Starling, who was smart enough to have her gun ready to fire, turns around and blows him away. Extra stupid on Gumb's part because his revolver was a double-action model; all he needed to do was pull the trigger. Presumably he couldn't resist the extra bit of drama, especially since as mentioned in the book, "he had never hunted one armed before. He would have thoroughly enjoyed it." Clarice, not being batshit insane, was more practical as well as more professional, since she's a (mostly) trained law enforcement officer, while Gumb has no military or law enforcement training we know of. ^note  It's stated in the book that Gumb does this to scare his victims, who now know what's about to happen next. Of course, all his previous victims weren't armed.
• In Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, Watson is investigating the empty pump house when a revolver is leveled at the back of his head and the hammer cocked. However, when he turns around, it turns out to be a spooked Lestrade.
• Star Trek: Generations. As Admiral Kirk is pursuing Dr. Soran on Veridian III, Soran sneaks up on him from behind and activates his phaser device while it's pointed at Kirk's head.
• In A Study in Terror, the Ripper approaches his final victim in her bed and raises his knife, only to find Holmes' revolver clapped against the side of his head.
• In Sudden Impact, an armed man is sneaking up on Dirty Harry who is doing target practice, because of several threats on his life. As the man almost reaches him, Harry spins around, cocking the gun, then recognizing the man and saying "Horace!" (the man is Harry's partner).
• Tango & Cash: Done twice in one scene where Cash is investigating Requin's house. Requin gets the drop on Cash, but immediately after Requin utters a one-liner, Tango gets the drop on him.
• Angelina Jolie makes a Click Hello entrance to save Wesley in Wanted.
• In We Were Soldiers, an American platoon is cut off and pinned down by the North Vietnamese Army forces in the area. However, the NVA troops don't know exactly where the Americans are, due to the dense foliage and tall grass. A NVA force ends up almost on top of the Americans who are Hidden in Plain Sight due to the grass, and only realize it when Sergeant Savage flips his safety selector from "Single" to "Auto".
• Yellow Hair and the Fortress of Gold: When Pecos attempts to sneak into Colonel Torres' office, he finds the Colonel's pistol pressed against his head and hears the click of the hammer being cocked.

Literature

• Made great use of in one of Stephen King's The Dark Tower novels, in a scene in which seven characters successively get the drop on one another.
  • With the good guys using slingshots and knives versus the guns of the Big Coffin Hunters, of which the Big Coffin Hunters are the more scared, and injured, group.
• In Night Watch Vimes is on the receiving end of this, from an earlier version of himself.
• In the Weird West novella Sheep's Clothing, Doc's first impression of Wolf Cowrie is the business end of a revolver pointed at his face.
• In one of the parodic Swedish Ture Sventon crime novels, Ture Sventon in London, the trope is spoofed when a series of crooks and detectives pull this stunt while exchanging polite comments and keeping their upper lips stiff.

Live-Action TV

• Against the Wall has Abby using this in her rescue of her partner Lina from a crazed stalker who wants revenge.
• In the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode "Who You Really Are", Vin-Tak has found the ancient Kree artefact he's on Earth looking for, only to hear a number of guncocks, revealing that S.H.I.E.L.D. has arrived and have him surrounded.
• More like a Bzzzt Hello: In the Babylon 5 episode "The Wheel of Fire", Lyta has mind-controlled a roomful of people:
  Lyta: You cannot stop someone who's been Touched by Vorlons.
  [the sound of a PPG powering up]
  Sheridan: [utterly immune to her mind control] You're not the only one that's been touched by the Vorlons.
• Banshee:
  • Emmett pulls this on the Cole brothers while they're holding Lucas and Proctor at gunpoint.
  • Job is on the receiving end of this in "Homecoming."
• Battlestar Galactica (2003):
  • The first thing Lee Adama does on seeing Caprica Sharon (later known as Athena) is put a pistol in her face; he's only stopped from blowing her brains out then and there by Helo putting a gun to the back of his neck. Fortunately, President Roslin talks them both down with some well-placed lies (no, Helo, we're not going to throw your Cylon girlfriend out the airlock...).
  • In "The Eye of Jupiter", while Gaius Baltar is praying for a vision, Chief Tyrol welcomes him home with one of these. It turns into a "Hey, You!" Haymaker when the Chief pistol-whips Baltar into unconsciousness.
• Of all the gangsters, badasses, and Bitches in Sheep's Clothing hanging around Boardwalk Empire, it's Token Wholesome Margaret Schroeder who pulls a Click Hello on Eli, who's trying to strangle Nucky. With a shotgun.
• Saroyan interrupts Wendall this way in the Bones episode "The End in the Beginning".
• Cold Case:
  • Scotty is talking to the serial killer holding Lily hostage, basically threatening to take him apart should he harm her. The killer, George Marks, responds by holding his gun up to the receiver and cocking it, as "A gentle reminder to mind your manners."
  • In another episode, in a flashback, a controlling brother learns that his sister is dating a black woman (in 1932) when he finds the woman in question on his property. Grabbing the black girl by the throat, he tells his sister to choose between him and "this", and then tells her to get his rifle so he can kill her girlfriend. She leaves to get the gun and he thinks he's won... until he hears the gun cock and finds that she's pointing it at his head to force him to let her girlfriend go.
  • In "Best Friends" when Curtis found out about Rose's relationship with Billie, he threatened her to choose between him and her, then commanded her to get his rifle. Rose runs out to get it and Curtis thinks he’s won… until he hears the gun cock and finds his sister pointing his own rifle to his head.
• Criminal Minds
  • Hotch and Morgan are facing down an angry mob trying to kill their UnSub.
    Angry Guy: You're outnumbered. Who do you think has the higher ground?
    Rossi: [click] That would be us.
  • In the season seven finale, this is how JJ greets the UnSub who threatened her son. Long story short, it didn't end well for the UnSub.
  • From The Reaper:
    The Reaper: You should've made the deal.
• CSI: Miami: Lt. Caine has this down to a fine art. If someone's pointing a gun at someone else in the last five minutes of an episode, chances are this'll happen.
• In the Al Capone/Jesse James episode of Deadliest Warrior, Capone is beating the crap out of Jesse, about to go for the coup de grace...when the infamous click of a Winchester rifle loading is heard from the door to the room. Capone looks up...Boom, Headshot!.
• There are quite a few of these, often subverted, in Firefly. The subversions occur when person C is pointing the gun at the wrong person (as in the pilot, with Zoe and Jayne and the Fed), or the "Click" doesn't bother to say hello. "I was aimin' fer hiz Hed."
  • In "The Message", Jayne uses this as a distraction. Which is a subversion in itself, when you think about it. He had a pistol already out, cocked and ready to fire in his right hand, and with his left he did a Dramatic Gun Cock with a second gun, with the sole purpose of drawing the other character's attention.
  • Jayne also averts this trope throughout the show, and in the movie when the guy in the vault asks for an ID, instead of a Click Hello Jayne sends him a "Quick Burst of Bullets Hello".
    Mal: [calls down the stairs] Listen up. We're coming down to empty that vault.
    Guard's voice from the vault: You'll have to give me your authorization password.
    Jayne: [pulls his gun, fires a burst down the stairs]
    Guard's voice from the vault: ...okay!
• Game of Thrones: Osha pulls this on Jojen, then gets it pulled on her by Meera.
• One episode of Get Smart had several people (previously disguised as statues) reveal themselves one after another in this way.
  • Another, "The Hot Line", in which the Chief goes undercover as a singing waiter, has a series of Click Hello reversals while the Chief is onstage, resulting in an impromptu choral number of seven people in a Click Hello Chain. While remaining on-key, on-tempo, and smiling. We just don't get that kind of professionalism and showmanship in our secret agents anymore...
• The Glades: Happens in "Booty" when Jim is standing waist-deep in a hole with a shovel in his hands and the murderer comes up behind him.
• Done at its most badass in Heroes. Thompson gets the drop on Matt Parkman this way and taunts his telepathy by saying, "What am I thinking, Parkman?" Then Mr. Bennet gets the drop on Thompson by doing this and answers for Matt by saying "Your last thought." And shoots him.
• Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries: In "Unnatural Habits", Phryne is searching the ship and has just discovered the missing girls when she is interrupted by the click of an automatic being cocked behind her.
• Monarch: Legacy of Monsters: In the second episode, when Bill Randa first meets Keiko Miura and Lee Shaw by stumbling on them in the Philippines, Shaw disappears while no-one is looking just before Bill shows himself, then while Bill is talking to Keiko, Shaw sneaks up behind him and reveals himself via pointing a gun at the back of Bill's head, and Bill has to quickly convince Shaw that he's not a threat.
• On the episode of NCIS which introdcued Casey Novak as Gibbs' Distaff Counterpart, her introduction was one of these, pulling this on Tony DiNozzo. And it was awesome. Diane Neal sure can pick her characters.
  • Then Gibbs does it to her, and her probie does it to him, snarking, "It's turning into a party around here."
• NCIS: New Orleans: Happens to LaSalle in "Second Line" when he enters a darkened room and the criminal hiding there gets the drop on him.
• The New Avengers: Gambit pulls this when he gets the drop on Colonel 'Mad Jack' Miller in "Dirtier by the Dozen".
• NUMB3RS: Ian Edgerton has done this to perps several times throughout the series.
• In Soul Food: The Series, youngest sister Bird is being stalked by the teacher who seduced her back in high school. When he saunters into her house, she's terrified, but sure enough, we hear the sound of a gun cocking, and the camera pans out to reveal her husband Lem pointing a gun at his head.
• Star Trek
  • Occurrs in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "A Piece of the Action" as the mob boss Krako recaptures Kirk and Spock.
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation:
    • The ultimate De-Cloak Hello occurs in the episode "The Defector". The Romulans have the Enterprise surrounded and outnumbered when their leader gives Picard 30 seconds to surrender. After Picard tells him to go screw himself, Tomalak says that he expected better than empty threats, at which point Picard orders his Klingon allies to decloak as their battlecruisers appear out of nowhere, weapons ready to kick ass. Picard finishes off with "Well, then, Tomalak... shall we die together?" For many people, that was the moment Picard became as equally cool as Kirk.
    • In "The Chase", Cardassians are ambushed by humans and Klingons, and all three are ambushed by Romulans a moment later. Subverted when the humans decide to just quietly take the scans they came for in the first place while everyone else is making big speeches with their guns pointed at each other.
  • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine has a pretty good Decloak-Hello with Worf's appearance with the cavalry at the First Battle of Deep Space 9.
• Westworld: Hector Escaton strolls into the saloon with the intention of robbing it, only to find Maeve's derringer held to his head.
  Escaton: Interesting way to start a conversation.
• The Wire: Omar Little announces his presence this way to a couple of guards distracted by one of his team-mates undercover as a cheap prostitute pulling off the heist against the New Day Co-op.

Professional Wrestling

• During their feud, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin pulled one of these on Booker T with a beer can in a supermarket. Booker sold it like he'd actually heard a gun.

Tabletop Games

• In Feng Shui, pumping a shotgun gives bonuses to hit and damage, from intimidation.

Video Games

• Detective Badd pulls one of these in the final case of Ace Attorney Investigations against Shih-na/Callisto Yew, who was holding Kay Faraday at gunpoint.
• With the Intimidation perk (requires Charisma 10), you can do this (minus the clicking) to any lower-leveled human/synth enemy in Fallout 4. Higher ranks of the perk allow you to give more specific commands to them and even force them to follow you around.
• Veger pulls one of these near the end of Jak 3, though in a variation, it's not a click that announces his presence, it's him telling Jak to "Stand aside!"
• In Mass Effect 3, if Thane survived the suicide mission in the previous game, he pulls this during Kai Leng's attempt to assassinate the Salarian Councilor during Cerberus' attack on the Citadel.
• Resident Evil 4: Ada's reunion with Leon in the castle is kicked off by her pointing her gun at his back along with an audible click (although she doesn't do anything that would make that *click*^note her finger is off the trigger and her other hand is at her side, so she didn't pull back the slide).
• Happens in a cutscene of Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II. 8T-88 sics some assassins on Kyle, and at the end of the level, as he's boarding his shuttle, Kyle runs up behind him with his gun drawn.
  Kyle: Leaving so soon? [shoots off 88's arm]

Visual Novels

• Choices: Stories You Play
  • At the end of Chapter 4 from The Heist: Monaco, just as Lee's about to get on a speedboat to get off Trask Island, he's greeted to this by Sonia, Ansel's chief security officer.
  • In chapter 13 from Veil of Secrets ends with Jesse and Flynn cornered by Margaret... armed with a shotgun.
• Van Helsing in Code:Realize announces his arrival on the scene with a dramatic *click* of his guns on a few occasions, most notably when he first confronts Lupin in his introductory scene in Chapter 2 and if he's the one to interrupt Finis's breaking speech to Cardia in Chapter 8.
• In the finale episode of Nikolai's first season in Queen of Thieves, Nikolai and the heroine are moments from a Relationship Upgrade when the moment is killed stone dead by the ominous click of Gerard's handgun.

Webcomics

• In this strip of Exterminatus Now an assassin has taken Jamilla hostage after a botched attempt on Commander Schaefer and is attempting to escape. Eastwood tells him that's not going to happen and when the assassin asks why, "CLICK"
  Eastwood: It's very simple: As you are now aware, Inquisitor Gallagher has a gun leveled at your head.
• In Girl Genius Bangladesh Dupree pulls one of these on Ardsley Wooster just as he's about to Shoot the Dog. He gets his revenge a few pages later.
• Goblin Hollow Here.
  Gunther: Smile... Yer on Candid Camera, Twinky Boy.
• Lampshaded in Grrl Power: the energy weapons brandished by Cora, Frix and Slyvyrnus have no reason to make any sound, but when pointed at Garamm all three still go "CHAK".
  Caption: ... is the noise they would make if waving a well-made gun around made noise.
• Schlock from Schlock Mercenary is a master of the Ominous Hum Hello, as in this case.

Web Original

• DSBT InsaniT: In 'Store Story', Balloon does this to Duck with a water gun in their "toy store war".
• The Mine Turtle from asdfmovie. In a nutshell: Living Land Mine Goes *click* "Hello!"
• In the machinima The Leet World, during the first challenge one of these occurs. Leeroy (Team A) gets snuck up on by Cortez (Team B), who is snuck up upon by Westheimer (Team A), who is in range of Ellis (Team B). Note that in this case it is literally completely pointless as there are in a competition where people can be revived, you get points for killing people and they have no reason to talk.
• Tex introduces herself to Agent Wyoming in this way in Episode 42 of Red vs. Blue and asks where his employer, O'Malley is. Said employer then shows up and introduces himself in the same fashion.
  • Season 18 had a case without sound - as Washington prepares to charge back, he stalls once Phase's pistol appears over his head - followed by a straightforward example, as Carolina then cocks a shotgun pointed at Phase.
• Steve and Carlos from Steve And Carlos pull this trope on Doktor Vandike when he was about to kill Agent Zero.

Western Animation

• Used in the Batman: The Animated Series episode "Almost Got 'Im": Batman reveals himself to have been masquerading as Killer Croc at a villains' poker game and appears to be at the mercy of the other players. Immediately, dozens of other "bar patrons" draw their weapons and reveal the bar to have been a police sting.
• Spoofed in Drawn Together, "The One Wherein There Is A Big Twist": Toot points a gun at Captain Hero. Clara points a gun at Toot. Xandir points a gun at Clara. Spanky says, "Nobody holds a gun on my girl... but me!" and points a gun at Clara, too. Wooldoor suddenly develops lots of extra arms that allow him to point a plethora of guns at everyone, including himself, and the whole thing degenerates into a Mexican Stand Off.
• In the animated version of the Lucky Luke episode "Tenderfoot", there is a whole string of these. In order: Lucky Luke points a gun at Jack Grabbit, a henchman points at Lucky Luke, Sam points at the henchman, the barkeep points at Sam, the butler points at the barkeep, and finally Rantanplan (who thinks it's a game) points his cold nose at the butler. Then they all drop their weapons and engage in a Big Ball of Violence.
• In the South Park episode "Mystery of the Urinal Deuce", Stan points a gun to Kyle to Reveal that his attempt to blame the Government was to avoid getting in trouble for taking a deuce in the urinal.
• In the Star Wars: The Clone Wars episode "Bounty Hunters", the bounty hunters are introduced when Rumi sneaks up behind Ahsoka and tells her to drop her lightsaber with a blaster at the back of her head.

Real Life

• In a real life counter, UN soldiers on peace-keeping missions are often told not to leave a round chambered. This is partly because an unintentional discharge around nervous and questionably-friendly civilians makes for really bad PR, but also because the sound of a whole squad working the cocking handles of their weapons simultaneously is a very, very potent tool for de-escalating a confrontation without resorting to force.
  • In the German army, it's encouraged that even when you have to have a round chambered for security reasons (heightened alarm level for instance) you should first cock the gun again when encountering trouble. You will eject the round currently chambered unused, but it's better than actually having to fire.
• A "dumb crook" anecdote out there involves a bank robber unlucky enough to target a bank used by several agents of the local FBI office — on their payday. When he announced it was a stick-up, cue the clicking of the safeties coming off behind him....
• In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a man walked into fast food restaurant during a particularly busy day, pulled a gun and told the cashier, "This is a stick-up." A number of guns cocked behind him, and the person standing behind the man said, "No, it's not." Turns out the fast food restaurant was around the corner from a Wisconsin police conference, which had just let its attendees out for lunch.
• From PJ O'Rourke, Holidays in Hell, he recounts the amusement of locals in some Central American hellhole, on reading another journalist's description of hearing, in a tense moment, "the sound of dozens of safeties being removed." No-one there EVER keeps their safety catch on.
• In one firefight in Afghanistan, a US patrol managed to stage an ambush against a group of Taliban fighters and their new recruits. However, one private still had his weapon on safe as the unsuspecting party approached; when he took the safety off, the experienced leaders of the group heard the telltale click and managed an "oh, shit" on their faces right before being promptly mowed down.
• Patrick Kielty recounted a story like this on Top Gear (UK) while talking about what it was like trying to drive in Northern Ireland during The Troubles. While learning to drive he plowed his car into a army blockade. A moment of relief that he had survived was followed by a round of clicks as every soldier at this checkpoint aimed their guns at him.
• One possible strategy in home defense; any burglar who isn't very determined that hears the clicking of a gun hammer being cocked or a shotgun being racked will vacate the premises (among other things) with celerity. However, this isn't something you should rely on, as there's no guarantee that the noise alone will scare off a home invader. You have no idea what they want, and how determined they are to kill you. And of course, the sound will give away your position to the home invader.

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